TCL Communications Mobile World Congress 2018 Rundown

TCL Communications have officially kicked off the Mobile World Congress 2018, and with it, a slew of new and exciting announcements.

Alcatel is proud to announce that their 2018 smartphones will employ the use of TCl’s award-winning FullView 18:9 aspect ratio technology, first used in some TCL HDTV sets. The unique aspect ratio offers an easier to use experience across the board, especially for smaller devices compared to other devices with traditional displays.

“For nearly 20 years, Alcatel has been a leader at delivering high-quality, premium mobile technology experiences that are accessible to consumers around the world,” said Christian Gatti, Global President Alcatel Business Division and Executive Vice President TCL Communication. “As we introduce an all-new direction for our smartphone portfolio, we remain focused and committed to pushing the boundaries of what an affordably priced smartphone can be, providing even richer experiences and flagship-style designs for our customers around the globe.”

Hagen Fendler, Chief Design Officer for TCL, talked about how the company is striving for innovation and what the are calling SIMGANIC design language, or a design philosophy that incorporates more organic and simple aesthetics that better conform a more human experience.

Alcatel 5 Series Aimed at replacing your daily driver, the Alcatel 5 series gives customers the best bang for your buck (coming in at under 300 Euros). This series will include the Alcatel 5, which features a bezel-less 5.7-inch Alcatel FullView 18:9 display, premium brushed metallic unibody design and octa-core processor. The line will also come equipped with a 13MP f/2.0 front-facing camera with a secondary 5MP 120-degree super wide-angle lens. The camera also boasts an impressive LED flash that can capture up to three times more detail than a typical self-portrait or selfie shot. Smart onboard intelligence allows the camera to quickly switch from portrait to super wide angle when it detects more than two faces within the frame.

Those worried about security can rest assured, as the Alcatel series 5 will ship with Face Key, a technology that accurately uses advanced facial recognition security to safeguard your device from others. A fingerprint sensor is also available and is conveniently located on the back of the device, offering additional features such as a shutter key for operating the camera.

The Alcatel 5 is now available in select markets in Metallic Black and Metallic Gold for 229,99EUR.

Alcatel 3 Series

Under 200 Euros, the Alcatel 3 series of devices boast many of the great features found in the 5 series, such as the crisp aspect ratio, Face Key locking system and fingerprint scanner. Aesthetically, the 3 series will feature curved backs, making them an ideal and comfortable fit for daily use. The 3 series also packs an impressive high-quality screen, offering users a 6” 2k (2160×1080) display for the 3V series; while the Alcatel 3x will rock a 5.7” (1440×720) IPS display. Finally, the Alcatel 3 will ship with a 5.5” (1440×720) IPS display, offering users a great mobile viewing experience.

The 3 series will give photographers dual rear cameras (in select devices). The 3V uses a 12MP camera paired with a 2MP secondary depth camera with LED flash, providing real-time bokeh and the ability to change the area of focus on any shot, even after it’s taken; and the 3X has a 13MP primary camera and 5MP 120-degree super wide-angle lens with dual-tone flash, making it possible for you to get more content into each shot, whether it’s a group photo or a panoramic vista. Each device in the series also offers 5MP front-facing cameras with LED flash for well-lit selfies regardless of the time of day.

Alcatel will also be introducing the Alcatel 1X. The 1X features a new suite of popular pre-installed google apps and will run on Android Oreo (Go edition), which will translate to apps having a smaller digital footprint, giving end-users with more space to work with.

“We are honoured to offer our first smartphone running Android Oreo (Go edition) to our customers throughout the world,” said Christian Gatti, Global President Alcatel Business Division and Executive Vice President TCL Communication. “Our vision is for every smartphone user in the world to have access to an amazing Android experience, and the introduction of our Alcatel 1X powered by Android Oreo (Go edition) now gives them the opportunity to own one of the best value Alcatel smartphones ever.”

Smartphones aren’t the only thing Alcatel will be bringing out in 2018. The company took the time to announce two tablets, the Alcatel 1T 10 and the Alcatel 1T7.

Alcatel 1T 10

The 1T 10 features a 10.1” IPS display, weighing in at 415g, making it the lightest tablet you can get in its size and price range. The tablet comes installed with a 4000mAh battery, ensuring a long and healthy charge (8 hours) before it needs to be plugged in. The 1T 10 ships with 16GBs of internal storage, with support for upwards of 128GB via a microSD expansion slot. An optional dedicated Bluetooth keyboard will be available that doubles as a textured cover, protecting the 1T 10 from dust, dings and scratches.

Alcatel 1T 7

The Alcatel 1T 7 is meant to be the ultra sleek and portable equalivant of the 10” model. Weighining in at 245g and measuring 9.15mm thin, the IT 7 is perfect for those on the go. The tablet will also include a 2580mAh battery, giving users 7 hours of use time and 430 hours of standby time.

The Alcatel 1T 10 and Alcatel 1T 7 tablets will be available later in Q2 across Europe, Latin America and Asia, starting at €99,99 and €69,99 respectively. Both tablets will come in Premium Black and Bluish Black color options. For more information, please visit www.alcatelmobile.com.

TCL Communications in the pursuit of better networking has introduced the fastest LTE mobile broadband Hotspots ever, with the Alcatel LINKZONE CAT12 and LINKZONE CAT 17.

Both devices feature lightweight and portoble form factors, along with significantly improved LTE speeds and battery life.

Alcatel LINKZONE CAT12

The Alcatel LINKZONE CAT12 supports maximum download speeds of up to 600Mbps and upload speeds of up to 100Mbps using 3-channel carrier aggregation. It’s also one of the smallest hotspots available on the market, despite having a massive 4300mAh battery that delivers 15 straight hours of working battery life before you need to recharge it, or up to 300 hours standby time with the device’s dual-band WiFi a/b/g/n/ac turned on. The LINKZONE CAT12 comes with a built-in power bank function, making it also possible to charge your other mobile devices.

Alcatel LINKZONE CAT7

The Alcatel LINKZONE CAT7 achieves maximum 4G LTE download speeds of up to 300Mbps and upload speeds of up to 100Mbps using 2-channel Carrier Aggregation, and is rated to get 8 hours of battery life so you can be productive through an entire work day. Weighing 85g and measuring 13.3mm thin, the LINKZONE CAT7 is incredibly light and portable, making it very easy to throw in your pocket or bag without having to worry about losing out on connectivity. The Alcatel LINKZONE CAT12 and Alcatel LINKZONE CAT7 will be available in select regions around the world starting later this year at 179,99EUR and 99,99EUR respectively. For more information, please visit www.alcatelmobile.com.

Aside from new devices, TCL Communications took the time to demo the world’s first 5G full software implentation, during the Mobile World Congress 2018 event.

“As a contributor to the 3GPP standardization effort, we have been engaged actively since early 2015 in the prototyping of 5G technologies to prepare the introduction of our first 5G products in second half of 2019 in-line with the market demand for 5G wireless broadband access in North America and Europe markets”, said Christian Gatti, Global President Alcatel Business Division and Executive Vice President TCL Communication. “With the full-software implementation announced today we’re now able to prototype 5G innovations and perform field trials later this year with operators involved with us in collaborative projects such as MASS START. We are very proud of these collaborations and the great technological advances we will bring together in the future.”

The 5G 3.5Ghz band (80Mhz channel) will be applicable to European and Asian markets.

The 5G NR numerologies, waveforms and channel coding implemented by TCL Communication demonstrate the maximum throughput of 5G for one transmission layer and the reduced latency of 5G compared to 4G. Combined together, the higher throughput and reduced latency of 5G open doors for a much-improved user experience and will enable new use cases such as: